The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

A special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree. The fig tree witnesses their hushed, happy meetings; their silent, surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns - a botanist, looking for native species - looking, really, for Defne. The two lovers return to the taverna to take a clipping from the fig tree and smuggle it into their suitcase, bound for London. Years later, the fig tree in the garden is their daughter Ada's only knowledge of a home she has never visited, as she seeks to untangle years of secrets and silence, and find her place in the world.

Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees moves back and forth in both time and place, and is split into three narratives: 2010s London, 1974s Cyprus, and the fig tree. The use of a tree will polarize readers—some will love its beautiful passages and others will be detached. But one thing is for certain, the writing is transcendent and stunning. Shafak's passages are vivid with detail and sweeping prose.  

The characters are complex and rich with detail and the supporting cast is just as strong—especially Aunt Meryem. With a story that is permeated with pathos, she is dynamic and refreshing. And although they are decades apart, Aunt Meryem mirrors teenage Ada and their relationship blossoms much to Ada's chagrin. 

The Island of Missing Trees is beautifully written and mesmerizing. With branches of grief, love, faith, nature, and home, it’s only fitting that one of its narrators is a fig tree. 

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ELIF SHAFAK is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including her latest The Island of Missing Trees. She is a bestselling author in many countries around the world and her work has been translated into 55 languages. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. The Architect's Apprentice was chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall's inaugural book club, The Reading Room. 

Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College.

An advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. 

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.

A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

Master storyteller Alice Hoffman revisits the Owens family in her spellbinding conclusion to the Practical Magic series. Hoffman's writing is bewitching and unforgettable, as are her characters—they are vivid, incredibly crafted, and fully fleshed out. 

Magical. Beautiful. Mesmerizing. Steeped in the history of witchcraft, The Book of Magic is a stunning celebration of mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love. 

Complete with magical recipes, conflict, and witchcraft, this gift of a novel can be read as a standalone, but you will want to devour all of the books in the series. Hoffman is at her finest and you will be under her spell. 

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger

A special thank you to HarperCollins Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Think twice before you swipe.

Intrigued by his picture on a dating app—a dark handsome stranger—they go on a date at a downtown bar. Wren thought it was just going to be another hookup, but it quickly becomes so much more. With their powerful connection, she is falling for him hard. Is it love?

But then he stands her up and disappears—profiles deleted, phone disconnected. Adam ghosts her.

Maybe it was her fault. Did she shared too much, too fast? But then Wren learns that there were others before her. Girls who also thought that they were in love only these girls went missing. She had been looking for a connection, but now she's looking for answers. Chasing a digital trail into his dark past—and hers—Wren finds herself on a dangerous hunt. And she's not sure whether she's the predator—or the prey.

In this online dating match turned deadly cat-and-mouse game, Unger delivers a captivating thriller of secrets, obsession, and vengeance.  

Wren is a complex and engaging character who is harbouring secrets of her own. Last Girl Ghosted is written in first-person narration and utilizes dual timelines to flesh out the story. Also lurking in the background, and just as unsettling as the plot, is the pandemic. The only negative in this riveting thriller is the length—there are times where the narrative is repetitious and it creates unnecessary bulk.   

With perfectly crafted characters and just enough plot twists, that are both believable and propulsive, Last Girl Ghosted is utterly captivating.   

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LISA UNGER is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author. Her books have been published in thirty languages, sold millions of copies worldwide, and have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, and many others. 

Unger lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.